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File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎80v] (169/834)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (411 folios). It was created in 1917-1920. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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Protesting, however, {pro forma) his personal goodwill to b
Sand and (con amove) his readiness to do anything Great Britain
required of him, even to turning the other cheek, he rea i y
agreed to keep the peace on his side, to maintain correct relations,
to avoid such a contentious subject as suzerainty, and to recognize
Ibn Sand’s right to deal with the Ateibah in his own territory.
But his head, not his heart was convinced ; audit was doubtless
no small satisfaction to him in the end to refuse Mi. Phi by
permission to return through Hejaz to Taif, against which
possibility he had already guarded himself by summoning the
curavan. which been left there, to the inaccessible precincts
of Mecca.
On the other major points of my commission I found the
King reasonable. He declared himself quite in sympathy
with 5 both International Control in Palestine and the encourage
ment of Jews to settle there, and he volunteered the remark that
the course of the war must inevitably modify m ceitain points
the agreements of the Allies with himself. He asked only to be
informed frankly and fully of such proposed modifications and
the reason of their necessity should it arise. But, of course, like
everyone else, he is waiting on the progress of events and keeps
certain reservations in his own mind. His faith in Great
Britain’s power and good faith is unbounded and he places
himself. unreservedly in her hands. She is “ the great sea in
which I, the fish, swim,” said he, and “the larger the sea, the
fatter the fish ” !
In indulging in “bluff” about his own influence and military
power, and also about his local omniscience, he does but follow
the lead of all belligerents. He is not in fact so sure of the
security of his present position, of his future sphere, or of his
ability to control the Arabian situation here, there and every
where vi et armis, big as he talks of his sons and his Hejazi
levies. Nor was I, for my part, so sure of his omniscience of
Arab politics; and dark hints of trouble on the Gulf Coast, vague
assertions about Rashid affairs, and nebulous views about the
tribes on the Euphrates left me unimpressed,—the more, since I
detected lapses of his memory about one or tw 7 o points of recent
Hejaz history.
King Husein brought up the subject of his title at every
opportunity. As is well known, he signs himself “ King of the
Arabs” or “the Arab Country” in communications with Arabs ;
and his officers so describe him in official documents. But the
Allies do not recognize the title, and he holds that it would make
all the difference in the world if they did. He is more set on
this recognition than on anything else. His argument is that
exhortations to the Arabs to unite are empty words until one
single personality be designated on whom they shall unite. He
admits that Arabs as a whole have not asked him to be their
King; but seeing how ignorant and disunited they are, how can
this be expected of them until he is so called ? Which is a

About this item

Content

The volume consists of individual copies of the Arab Bulletin produced by the Arab Bureau at the Savoy Hotel, Cairo numbers 66-114. These publications contain wartime, and post-war intelligence obtained by British sources. They deal with economic, military, and political matters in Turkey, the Middle East, Arabia, and elsewhere, which – in the opinion of British officials – affect the ‘Arab movement’; the bulletins cover a wide range of topics and key personalities.

The volume contains the following maps:

  • A map of Central Arabia showing St John Philby's route from Uqair to Jidda 17 November to 31 December 1917: folio 103.
  • Sketch map prepared from RNAS photographs and reconnaissance by HMS City of Oxford of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Mur February to March 1918 : folio 170.
  • Sketch map of Hejaz (1919): folio 317.
  • Tribal sketch map of the Hadhramaut ‘showing only tribes of fighting value’: folios 333v.

Towards the back of the volume is a small amount of correspondence respecting the distribution of Notes on the Middle East ; the Arab Bulletin was superseded by this publication. Copies of numbers 3-4 of this publication can also be found at the back of the volume.

Tables of content can be found at the front of each issue. A small amount of content is in French.

Extent and format
1 volume (411 folios)
Arrangement

The Arab Bulletins are arranged in numerical order from the front to the back of the file. The Notes on the Middle East follow on from the bulletins at the back of the file in reverse numerical order.

The subject 759 (Arab Bulletins) consists of two volumes. IOR/L/PS/10/657-658.

Physical characteristics

Condition: the edges of some of the folios towards the back of the volume have suffered damage to their edges due to general wear and tear. The affected folios are 389-390, 407-409, and 412.

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 413; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The front cover and the leading flyleaf have not been foliated. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 357-363 and ff 374-412 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English in Latin script
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File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎80v] (169/834), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/658, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048056854.0x0000aa> [accessed 20 April 2024]

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